Family Flame
by Jojoflow
Summary: Shoto Todoroki takes his daughter to meet an old family member for the first time.


I roll over looking at the clock on my nightstand. It was an antique hand clock my mother had given me for my previous birthday. It read seven in the morning. I sat up in my bed with a stretch and a yawn as I pull open the canopy around my bed and slid out of it. My pigeon gray nightgown resting right above my ankles as I walked over to the window and pushed the curtains open greeting the new day. My name is Reiju Todoroki I'm seven years old and today I and my father are going somewhere special.

I walk into my bathroom and step onto the stool to catch sight of myself in the mirror. Like my father and his siblings my hair is a mixture of two colors. My father's red and mother's black, but whereas my father's hair is split down the middle mine is more of a swirling mixture streaks of black and red striating through my hair. I also have my father's heterochromia. My left eye is blue and my right eye is black. I start my morning routine before coming out of the bathroom to get dressed. I wish father would tell me where we're going, so I could dress for the occasion, but he was being unusually secretive even going so far as to ask me not to tell mother of our outing today.

I abhor lying and if asked I would have had no choice, but to tell mother where we were going, but fortunately she was none the wiser about our outing today. I picked out a white and blue striped blouse and a black skirt, after giving myself one last cursory look I went downstairs seeing my parents giving their farewells. My mother the hero Creati caught sight of me and walked over giving me a kiss on the forehead as she corrected whatever small imperfections there were with my clothes and hair. "I'm glad I got to see you before I left Reiju, you and daddy have a nice time today. Mommy will be back tomorrow." She says to me patting my cheek as she grabbed her bag and kissed my father once before leaving.

I joined him at the door as we waved her off. "Have a nice trip." We both say as she climbed into the taxi and was whisked away. Once she was out of sight my father and I retreated into our home shutting the door as we headed into the kitchen. "What would you like for breakfast Reiju?" My father asked as he walked into the kitchen and I took my seat at the table.

"An omelet please father." I answered settling into my chair as I thought about where we could be going today, but there was simply not enough information. Maybe now that mother had left dad would be more inclined to share his plan with me. "Dad where are we going?" There was a slight pause in Dad's whisking but only for an instant before resuming.

"We're going to visit a family member you haven't seen before, but I've told them a lot about you, and I'd like for the two of you to meet at least once." He said as he began preparing my breakfast. I placed my chin in my hand as I lean over the table. Mother doesn't like for me to put my elbows on the table, but dad wasn't all that concerned. I thought some more of who we might visit. I rarely saw Grandma since she moved up north, but that wouldn't fit with what Father said, and it wasn't any of his hero friends I'd met all of them at least once besides Dad said they were a family member. As I spun my wheels dad set down my omelet in front of me with a crosshatching of ketchup and a glass of milk. "Thank you for the food." I said before tucking into the omelet as I noticed the two pieces of toast on my father's plate along with a mug of coffee. We ate in silence my father staring out the window and nibbling on his toast as I finished my omelet and drank the last of my milk. I pulled my glass and plate back hurriedly seeing my father reaching for them. "It's ok dad I'll wash them." I say as I slid out of my chair and walk to his side of the table holding out my hand for his plate of barely touched toast and empty coffee mug.

"Reiju that's not necessa-." He attempted to say before I looked at him with what I hoped was a stern face and didn't come off as pouting.

"Father please." I say as he gives into my demands and places his things atop mine. I walk into the kitchen grab the stool that mother keeps in there so I can help her wash and begin washing the dishes as Dad sits at the table checking his phone until I'm done. I place the dishes in the drying rack and dry my hands off as I walk into the dining room as my father stands up.

"It's time to go Reiju." He says as I throw away my paper towel and follow him outside to the driveway as I climb into the back passenger seat and he does the same in the driver seat, after buckling up we begin our journey. From my vantage point I can see that my father is nervous, normally he has quite the poker face being the number two hero requires as much when facing down the dangers he does, but my mother and I have always been able to tell when something is bothering him.

"What's wrong dad?" I ask as he looks into the rearview mirror at me.

"It's nothing really Reiju I just don't know what to expect." He said before turning his eyes back to the road. I wasn't sure what he meant by that, but knowing my father he wouldn't give me anything else until he was ready. We drove for about an hour and a half before I noticed a large facility coming into view. I wasn't sure what this place was, but there was a sign coming up hopefully it would tell me what this place is, but just as it came into view Dad got my attention. "Reiju after this what do you say we get some ice-cream?" I looked at him my face forming into an involuntary smile as I thought about a nice cup of Gelato.

"That sounds great Father!" I say excitedly before hurriedly turning back to the sign only to see we had passed it by. Oh well I'm sure I'll figure out what this place is once we're inside. My dad parked the car before we both got out he hurriedly moved to my side of the car grabbing my hand as he looked back and forth across the parking lot making sure no car was coming before we hurriedly made our way across. _He's such a worrier_. I think to myself with a smile as we come up to the front gate. My father shows his ID to the man at the gate and after a moment we're let through into the courtyard and then into the lobby of the building. There were numerous cameras and a lady sitting behind a thick glass partition as the two of us walked up to her she smiled at the two of us.

"Good to see you again Mr. Todoroki, could I have you sign for this cutie here?" She asked sliding a clipboard through a slot in the window towards my father who quickly signed it and slid it back. "Reju hunh that's a very pretty name." She said looking at me as I smile at her.

"Thank you Ma'am." I say as a buzzer sounds off and we walk through the thick metal door before going into a small room in a hall of rooms. Inside said room were two chairs and another camera. I was feeling somewhat nervous I had finally figured out where we were and didn't know why we were here. My father being as observant as he is immediately took notice of this and kneeled down to look me in the eye.

"It's ok Reiju look we're here to see my brother, I know I'm being kind of selfish, but I just want you two to meet once, after this you don't ever have to come back here ok?" He asks me as I see the pleading in his eyes. I place a hand on my chest and inhale before letting it out slowly, a breathing technique my mother taught me for stressful situations.

"Ok dad I can do this." I say showing off a confidence I did not feel as the two of us stepped forward and took our seats right as the large metal door on the other side of the counter and glass opened revealing a tall lanky man with long red hair similar to my father's walked through. He was wearing an orange prison jumpsuit with a pair of enclosed cuffs on his hands as he walked forward slowly and took his seat across from us. Now that he was closer I could see most of his visible skin looked like a patchwork of burn scars as his blue eyes stared at my father before looking at me.

"So you actually did it eh Shouto Todoroki, man your wife is going to be pissed when she finds out." He said chuckling softly. "Well since you went through the trouble of bringing her here. I'm Dabi nice to meet you Reiju." He said looking at me through the glass. His eyes seemed so empty to me.

"Dabi?" I ask looking at my father who spoke without taking his eyes off Dabi.

"His name is Touya Todoroki he's my older brother and your uncle." I nodded that made more sense to me.

"Did you bring her here to show her what not to do with her life, scare her straight onto the hero path?" Touya asked looking at my father who shook his head.

"You're family Touya I wanted her to meet you at least once talk to you, know you as her uncle and let her make her own decision about you." Touya seemed to accept that easily as he leaned back some locking eyes with me again.

"Alright ask whatever you want Reiju, believe it or not this will be the most entertaining thing of my day." He said shrugging. I took a moment to think. This man is my uncle and he is a criminal, what should I ask? Numerous questions ran through my head, but there was one all important one.

"Why did you become a villain Uncle Touya?" I asked staring into his blue eyes. Now that I look at him closely he does look a lot like Grandpa almost a copy if I had to say. He leaned back his eyes widening some as he looked to my father who shrugged in response. Touya raised his manacles to his chin as if he was about to scratch before remembering his position and dropped them to his lap.

"To change the world." He said. I raised an eyebrow at his vague and terse answer. "The word Hero is no longer what it used to be. A hero is someone who stands for what's right without being paid, or asked to, and that's not what we have these days. I became a villain so I could end that, but the world didn't agree with my ideals or methods and so I'm here." He said looking to me. "Does that answer your question?" It did.

"Do you think my dad is a hero?" I asked yet again I seemed to have caught him off guard as he gave a small chuckle.

"What is with your kid Shoto?" He said shaking his head as he shrugged. "On the surface no I don't. He gets paid to save lives he goes on Talk shows to talk about his great exploits, but I also know that Shoto believes in what he's doing and even if nobody was paying him he'd still be out there doing his best, so yes and no." He answered me and I agreed somewhat I could see where he was coming from I'd heard that argument before on the TV and such, so it was nothing new to me.

"What do you think of me Reiju knowing your uncle is a villain? I've killed people, even kidnapped one of your father's classmates at one point, and if given the chance I would kill your grandfather." Touya said this time catching me off guard. I knew he was a villain, but I didn't know what all he had done on his path of villainy. To be honest I was a little frightened, but I put that aside to focus on his question as I began twirling my hair in contemplation.

"I don't like it. You're a villain and I don't like that you do bad things just because you don't like how things are, and I'm kind of scared of you." I say honestly. I could see a twinge of pain on my father's face, and only cold acceptance on my Uncle's.

"Yeah that's what I expected." He said standing up.

"But you're still my uncle and I love you. I'm going to come back and tell you everything that happens while I'm gone." I say hurriedly standing up and placing my hand on the glass. "You're still family Uncle Touya no matter what you did, or how bad you are. I want to tell you all the things that happen to me good and bad." He stopped for a moment before laughing and shaking his head.

"And here I thought you were smarter than that, looks like you got your dad's brains sorry about that." He said without facing me and then banging his manacles on the door. "Open up I'm tired and want a nap."

My dad stood up grabbing hold of my hand and smiling down at me. "You really stuck it to him Reiju all the times I've visited Touya he's never been this happy." I look at my dad confused.

"But he just walked away and pretty much called me and you stupid." I say as dad opens the door and leads me out of the prison.

"Yeah he did, you must have really put him on the spot." Dad says as we get in the car and drive off. I still don't understand what he means, but I feel proud of myself nonetheless as dad takes me out for Ice cream on the way back home. All I can do is think of the next time I visit Uncle Touya.


End file.
